- Nov 2, 2010
- 21
- 0
- 18,510
I recently finished my first build and I've had so much fun I think I'm going to start over and switch to water. My origianal goal was to play most recent games at 2560 x 1440 with high settings on my 27" apple display.
Here is what I chose:
i7-950
Gygabyte UD3R
2 X GTX-460 in SLI
Intel SSD + a WD HDD
Thermaltake air cooler
Cooler Master 750W PSU
Antec 900 case
I chose these parts based partly on the $2000 hand-picked system here, partly on what Fry's had on their shelf and partly on not having a clue what I was doing - I was honestly surprised that it worked at all.
So now I have 4 big problems.
1. It sounds like a leaf blower after about 2 mins of gaming
2. Crysis is only really smooth on medium settings
3. Both video cards sit at about 99c while playing - even when the GPUs are running at ~60%
4. I'm bored now and want to work on something else
The crysis benchmark says it's getting about 45fps, but in reality it's in the 20s during a complex scene so I have to drop it to Medium. With the CPU OC'd to 3.8 GHz it gets another 5-8 FPS but is still not ideal and with the GTX-460s already that hot, I haven't even considered OC-ing them (the side of the case is open so I don't think its a case airflow issue). But the real problems are #1 (leaf blower) and #4 (bored) and I think water cooling may be a perfect solution to both. When I started this I didn't think I would care at all about what it looked like, but after researching water cooling and seeing all those glowing tubes, bubbles and bling, I'm starting to see myself hunched over a dremel tool very soon. My current thought is to rip it apart and build on either a turture rack, tecnofront, or banchetto bench-style acrylic case. I'm also having grand visions of big analog temperature guages and big metal knobs controlling fan speeds, but I'm getting way ahead of myself. First, I suppose I should determine if doing all of this will get me back to my original goal of 2560X1400 on high settings without forcing me to wear headphones to hear the dialog. I think about half of the excessive noise is coming from the PSU and half from the GPUs. The CPU is fine but if I'm going to add water I should definitely get the CPU in there just cause I can, but if that thermal paste I used is permanent I may be litterally stuck (I just used the stuff that came in the box). I'm also assuming that the PSU fan noise is because it just isn't up to the task and needs to be replaced, but I don't know.
So far it looks to me like Danger Den and Thermaltake have a pretty good selection of parts, frozencpu.com looks like a good place to get them and the black ice 360 radiator might be a good core to build from.
Does it sound like I'm on the right track?
I'm new here and really appreciate any tips.
Here is what I chose:
i7-950
Gygabyte UD3R
2 X GTX-460 in SLI
Intel SSD + a WD HDD
Thermaltake air cooler
Cooler Master 750W PSU
Antec 900 case
I chose these parts based partly on the $2000 hand-picked system here, partly on what Fry's had on their shelf and partly on not having a clue what I was doing - I was honestly surprised that it worked at all.
So now I have 4 big problems.
1. It sounds like a leaf blower after about 2 mins of gaming
2. Crysis is only really smooth on medium settings
3. Both video cards sit at about 99c while playing - even when the GPUs are running at ~60%
4. I'm bored now and want to work on something else
The crysis benchmark says it's getting about 45fps, but in reality it's in the 20s during a complex scene so I have to drop it to Medium. With the CPU OC'd to 3.8 GHz it gets another 5-8 FPS but is still not ideal and with the GTX-460s already that hot, I haven't even considered OC-ing them (the side of the case is open so I don't think its a case airflow issue). But the real problems are #1 (leaf blower) and #4 (bored) and I think water cooling may be a perfect solution to both. When I started this I didn't think I would care at all about what it looked like, but after researching water cooling and seeing all those glowing tubes, bubbles and bling, I'm starting to see myself hunched over a dremel tool very soon. My current thought is to rip it apart and build on either a turture rack, tecnofront, or banchetto bench-style acrylic case. I'm also having grand visions of big analog temperature guages and big metal knobs controlling fan speeds, but I'm getting way ahead of myself. First, I suppose I should determine if doing all of this will get me back to my original goal of 2560X1400 on high settings without forcing me to wear headphones to hear the dialog. I think about half of the excessive noise is coming from the PSU and half from the GPUs. The CPU is fine but if I'm going to add water I should definitely get the CPU in there just cause I can, but if that thermal paste I used is permanent I may be litterally stuck (I just used the stuff that came in the box). I'm also assuming that the PSU fan noise is because it just isn't up to the task and needs to be replaced, but I don't know.
So far it looks to me like Danger Den and Thermaltake have a pretty good selection of parts, frozencpu.com looks like a good place to get them and the black ice 360 radiator might be a good core to build from.
Does it sound like I'm on the right track?
I'm new here and really appreciate any tips.
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